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Clean water act

﻿The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Passed in 1972, the act established the goals of eliminating releases of high amounts of toxic substances into water, eliminating additional water pollution by 1985, and ensuring that surface waters would meet standards necessary for human sports and recreation by 1983. Pollutants regulated under the CWA include "priority" pollutants, including various toxic pollutants; "conventional" pollutants, such as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), fecal coliform, oil and grease, and pH; and "non-conventional" pollutants, including any pollutant not identified as either conventional or priority. The CWA regulates both direct and indirect discharges. In order to carry out the purpose of this Act, any water quality standard applicable to interstate waters which was adopted by any State and submitted to, and approved by, or is awaiting approval by, the Administrator pursuant to this Act as in effect immediately prior to the date of enactment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, shall remain in effect unless the Administrator determined that such standard is not consistent with the applicable requirements of this Act as in effect immediately prior to the date of enactment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. If the Administrator makes such a determination he shall, within three months after the date of enactment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, notify the State and specify the changes needed to meet such requirements. If such changes are not adopted by the State within ninety days after the date of such notification, the Administrator shall promulgate such changes in accordance with subsection of this section. Despite public indifference and worry about the threat that new environmental regulations pose to a struggling economy, Democrats in D.C. are charging ahead....

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...Water Pollution and Prevention
Nellie Dawn Karafa
Miller-Motte College Online
GS275 SUMid10 Environmental Survey
October 31, 2010
Instructor, Tanya Lee
Abstract
Water Pollution and Prevention are terms that are used quite often. Polluted waterways have extreme effects on all living organisms. Pollution has been a problem in our world for centuries, and will continue to be a concern. Laws and regulations are an important part of protecting our waterways and living organisms. Organizations and education play key roles in how we can prevent pollution. All of these will be discussed in this article.
Water Pollution and Prevention
Water is essential in our everyday life and is something that many humans take for granted and do not fully understand how important water truly is. Humans, animals, and plant life need quality water in order to survive. The question of whether our water sources can continue to provide for all the living organisms on earth does not come with an easy answer. Water systems all over the planet have fell prey to pollution and in a lot of cases have suffered severe losses to animal and plant life as well as ecosystems being completely degraded. Some of these systems have become so polluted that the loss of species is overwhelming, and even irreversible. This is an ongoing problem that we as humans have faced for...

...Environment, New Jersey Water, Contamination, CleanWaterAct, Water Pollution Control
Issue Statement
The contamination of public water wells in Monmouth and Ocean County can lead to negative long terms effects and put a major impact on the cost for water filtration. The accumulation of polluted water being produced in the area requires additional treatments making our county limited to our expenses.
Discussion
Many water wells in the state of New Jersey in addition to those in Monmouth and Ocean County have been susceptible to pollution. Some experts say, including the DEP commissioner, that the problem is not whether water coming out of your tap is safe. The real issue is the cost to put in addition treatments into the water therefore making it safe for every element where water is required and utilized. Though, updates have shown that drinking water itself is becoming unsafe and insecure for residents to consume as well.
Several conditions play a part in the pollution of water through the state. Whether it's storm runoffs, leaky storage tanks, or harmful waste dump sites, these all have an effect on the high bacteria levels in the water. Keeping the pollution to a minimal is not the easiest thing in the world to do. Pesticides, petroleum...

...CLEANWATERACT
1. Overview:
a. Congress’s Overall Objective with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (later CWA): (§101): “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.”
National Goals:
i. To completely eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters by 1985.
1. Not going to happen without stronger standards
ii. Interim goal (101(a)(2): to make the water quality such that it's fishable/swimmable by 1983
a. The NPDES program: The main mechanism used to attempt reach these goals and the broad objective: “restoring, maintaining the chemical, physical, biological integrity of Nation’s Waters”
b. Most powerful phrase: §301(a) Illegality of Pollutant discharges except in compliance with law Except as in compliance with §§301, 302, 206, 307, 402, and 404 of this title, the discharge of any pollutant by any person shall be unlawful.
2. CWA ISSUES
c. What is a pollutant
d. What is a point source?
iii. Need to know provision
e. Is it a navigable water of the US
f. Relationship between state and federal government
iv. State can be applying for permit and federal government can veto
v. Authorization Oversight
2. You have a system...

...Exp. Sci., V 26, No. 1, 2012; 39-48 ol.
Water Quality Index of Surface Water Bodies of Gujarat, India
N.C. Kankal, M.M. Indurkar, S.K. Gudadhe and S.R. Wate
National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg Nagpur - 440020 (Mah.); India
Abstract: Present communication deals with a study of Physico-chemical parameters such as pH, Temperature, Total Suspended Solids, Turbidity, Dissolved Oxygen, Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Nitrate, Phosphate and Fecal coliform in water samples of rivers, lake and canal in Gujarat state of India. The water quality of the samples was compared with standard values given by World Health Organization (WHO) and United State Salinity Laboratory for drinking and irrigation purposes. Water Quality Index (WQI) was also calculated to know the overall quality of water samples. The results show that the water quality index is observed in the range of 44-61 and expected in the range of 45-64 which shows marginally water quality for drinking purposes. The water quality index is calculated by indicator (100-point scale) shows that this water can be used for drinking purpose after purification treatment. Results show that quality for irrigation purpose is quite good. Key words: Water Quality Index, Rivers, Lake, Canal, Surface water Introduction
The term...

...to Control Water Pollution
With major water reservoirs drying up in the Southeast, the United States government is projecting that within the next five years over 38 of its states will face serious water shortages. And of the water that will remain, today’s serious issues will influence our future unless we find successful ways to control water pollutionor it will eventually disrupt life on our planet as we know if we do not. The sources of water pollution are varied– ranging widely from waste, excess, population growth, urban growth, increasing temperatures, and increasing flooding and drought. And each source requires an individual solution to develop a correct answer.
Requiring responsibility and involvement in the problems of water pollution, every human who lives on this planet needs to become knowledgeable about their local water resources. Ways to control water pollution should be something everyone practices in order to combat harmful wastes which eventually end up in sewage treatment plants or landfills. Adequate water planning needs to be boldly approached regarding ways to control water pollutionconservation, recycling, desalination, and stricter controlsin order to keep adequate water supplies for our future generations. Over $300 billion dollars are estimated by our government for upgrading...

...Comprising over seventy percent of the Earth's surface, water is undeniably the most valuable natural resource. Life on Earth would be non-existent without water because it is essential for everything on our planet to grow. The human body is composed of 50-80% water. Blood and muscles contain significant amounts, and approximately 95% of the brain is water. All body systems and organs need water to function properly, and will shut down without it. Most of the chemical reactions that take place in our body need water as their medium. We can live without food for a few weeks, but can survive only a few days without water. It's essential because unlike other nutrients, water isn't stored in the body. Typically, everyday, we lose around 10 cups of water, just living; urinating, perspiring and breathing. All organisms contain water; some live in it; some drink it. Plants and animals require water that is pure, and they cannot survive if their water is loaded with toxic chemicals or harmful microorganisms. Yet even though humans recognize this fact, the population has disregarded it by polluting the rivers, lakes, and oceans of the world. Consequently, we are harming our planet. In addition to organisms vanishing due to lack of polluted water, the drinking water has become greatly...

...How to deal with water pollution?
Water pollution could be a dangerous ecological menace to beaches, groundwater, animal and human health. Environmental, human and animal factors may create an infinite array of variables that change the way in which a particular water pollution can be dealt with. According to the World Wildlife Fund (as cited in Association for Sustainable &amp; Responsible in Asia (ASrIA), 2012 ), “…controlling pollution is important to conserving biodiversity…”(n.p.). This article, therefore, will introduce three methods to deal with water pollution; they are the implementation of taxation, the development of water treatment projects and the enactment of international law. Among three solutions, in my perspective, the international law is the most feasible.
1. The Implementation of Taxation
One of the methods of tackling pollution could be implementing taxation by the “polluter-pays principle”. This means that whoever may cause pollution should have to pay to clean it up, one way or another. According to EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2012), they implement the “polluter-pays principle” by imposing waste water charges, bills for water supply and sanitation services in order to improve water quality of surface water. It could mean that tanker owners should have to take out...

...Water is a very important part of our lives. We use it for nearly everything – drinking, food preparation, laundry, dishes, hygiene, etc. We swim in it, boat in it, and play in it. In fact, 70% of our world is covered in water. However, 97% of that water is saltwater and we are unable to drink it, leaving only three percent of the planet’s water drinkable. But two percent of the world’s freshwater is frozen in glaciers and ice caps. Only one percent of this freshwater can be used and consumed. Therefore, it is especially important to care for the very limited amount of freshwater we have.
Unfortunately, we take advantage of this precious resource. We make choices that have a negative impact on water and the creatures that live in and near water. This negative impact is called water pollution. Ningthoujam Sandhyarani wrote that , “Water pollution is an undesirable change in the water contaminated with harmful substances.” (Sandhyarani, n.d.) It is one of the most major forms of pollution, second only to air pollution. Every year, 1.2 trillion gallons of polluted water are discarded into United States waters and once water is polluted, it is complicated and difficult to extract the pollutants from the water.
There are three main sources of contaminants that cause water...